According
to
Planned
Parenthood,
58
countries
worldwide
have
laws
that
criminalize
HIV
or
use
existing
laws
to
prosecute
people
for
transmitting
the
virus.
Another
33
countries
are
considering
similar
legislation.

Since
2005,
seven
countries
in
West
Africa
have
passed
HIV
laws.
In
Benin,
simply
exposing
others
to
HIV
is
a
crime,
even
if
transmission
doesn't
occur.
And
in
Tanzania,
intentional
transmission
of
the
virus
can
lead
to
life
imprisonment.

Many
of
the
laws
in
Africa
were
passed
after
a
meeting
in
Chad
in
2004
sponsored
by
the
U.S.
Agency
for
International
Development,
the
world's
biggest
funder
of
AIDS
programs,
and
attended
by
U.N.
officials.

"The
U.N.
was
definitely
remiss
to
allow
this
to
happen,"
said
Kevin
Osborne,
a
senior
HIV
adviser
at
IPPF
and
one
of
the
report's
authors.

De
Lay
said
UNAIDS
found
out
about
the
meeting
only
after
it
happened.

But
poor
countries
aren't
the
only
ones
using
these
laws.

In
the
U.S.,
32
states
have
laws
criminalizing
HIV
transmission.
Experts
estimate
that
thousands
of
people
have
been
charged
across
the
country
with
spreading
HIV.

Since
2001,
16
people
in
the
United
Kingdom
have
been
prosecuted
for
spreading
HIV.

In
2005,
a
woman
in
Canada
was
charged
with
criminal
negligence
and
aggravated
assault
for
passing
HIV
while
pregnant
to
her
baby.

She
did
not
tell
her
doctors
that
she
had
HIV
and
did
not
receive
the
medications
necessary
to
prevent
the
virus
from
infecting
her
child.
She
was
sentenced
to
a
six-month
conditional
sentence
followed
by
three
years
of
probation.

In
countries
like
Britain,
Canada
and
the
U.S.,
which
are
major
donors
of
efforts
to
fight
AIDS
in
Africa,
such
cases
are
particularly
unfortunate,
many
experts
say.

"It
sets
a
poor
example
in
the
sense
that
other
countries
may
then
think
this
is
an
appropriate
or
desirable
way
to
deal
with
HIV,"
said
Richard
Elliott,
executive
director
of
the
Canadian
HIV/AIDS
Legal
Network.

While
there
might
be
exceptional
cases
where
prosecuting
people
who
are
maliciously
spreading
HIV
makes
sense,
experts
said
those
were
extreme
cases.

"The
criminal
law
is
a
blunt
instrument,"
Osborne
said.
"If
you
put
everyone
in
prison
with
HIV,
then
you
think
you've
controlled
it.
But
you
haven't
dealt
with
the
issues
around
the
intimate
behaviors
that
spread
HIV."

Hm,
in
Denmark,
it
is
criminal
to
expose
others
to
the
virus, also
if
the
virus
is
not
actually
transmitted.

We''ve
had
a
few
cases,
and
I
do
agree,
one
should
not
maliciously
try
to
pass
this
virus
to
others,
but,
on
the
other
hand;
we
all
have
a
responsibility,
not
to
infect
others,
and
not
to
get
infected...it
could
be
hiv,
hep
C,
syphilis
or
other
transmittable
diseases,
but
only
the
hiv
is
criminal
here.

Recently,
they've
started
discussing
to
decriminalize
hiv,
since
the
treatment
is
so
succesfull,
it's
no
longer
considered
a
lethal
diagnosis
(and
besides;
they've
calculated,
it's
a
1:25.000
risk,
to
get
the
virus
from
a welltreated
person!).

They
figure,
criminalizing
the
virus,
stops
some
from
getting
tested,
and
thereby
from
getting
treated.